Hunter Panel and Paint panelbeater now off to find the beaten track

In the panel beating business for 54 years, John Hunter calls it a day.

John Hunter has retired after a long time working as a panelbeater and eventually owning the business outright as Hunter Panel & Paint.

He started working for Wenden and James as a 16 year old and remained there for 19 years, when he bought out Ron James' share of the partnership, to become Wenden & Hunter for 12 years - when Kelly retired.

This is what this Ford car looked like when it arrived for John Hunter to repair some years back.

John bought out Kelly's share and continued to trade on his own account for the next 23 years.

Now John has sold the business to Mike Floyd from Te Kauwhata and he will be operating out of 6 - 8 Kiwi St.

"The repairs today are not like we did years ago - they were big jobs," said John. "The steel was a lot stronger in the old cars and they never had air bags.

"Technology has come into the industry to the point that today, all cars are pretty well much of a muchness and are good to work on," he said.

In retirement, John still has a few projects to tinker around with, as well as looking after a couple of classic Holden cars. That's when he's not heading off around New Zealand in his motorhome.